Here are our Tottenham talking points after their 2-2 draw at Arsenal in the Premier League’s first North London Derby of the season on Sunday afternoon
This is a different Tottenham Hotspur. The Emirates Stadium has not been a happy hunting ground for Spurs over the years and ahead of the latest North London Derby the usual crew of former Arsenal players and pundits were gleefully predicting a humiliating destruction of the visitors.
Ange Postecoglou, suited and booted for the occasion, and his young Tottenham side had other ideas. Yes, Gabriel Jesus’ big miss in the first half felt like a key moment and Declan Rice going off at half-time aided their cause, but Arsenal were largely nullified after the expected strong start and even outplayed at times at their own home as the game wore on.
It was only a point but Postecoglou knew that the performance showed just how much the players have bought into his brave, attacking and aggressive style and his raised fist towards the fans as he walked over to them was proof that, even with his era in its infancy, this was the kind of display that could fast-track his plans.
The difference to last season’s meek showing, albeit exacerbated by Emerson Royal’s 62nd minute red card in that encounter, was like night and day.
Last year, Spurs had just 35% of the possession and attempted only 307 passes to Arsenal’s 565. They had just seven shots to Arsenal’s 22.
This time around, amid the din of an excited Emirates crowd, the Tottenham players were not put off by the occasion or any mistakes they occasionally made. It only made them stronger, backed by Postecoglou’s belief in them.
His side had more of the possession in the Gunners’ home, with 54% of it and played more passes than their hosts – 435 to 370. They had as many shots as Arsenal – 13 – with one less on target with five.
Arsenal in the end had to rely on an own goal and a VAR-encouraged penalty for their point, although they did have that big Jesus chance and a couple of early comfortable saves for Guglielmo Vicario.
Spurs scored two good goals from flowing moves that culminated in Son Heung-min putting a captain’s finish on them, while Brennan Johnson forced David Raya into a couple of saves, one particularly impressive. There was also a 99th minute deflected Richarlison effort that rolled agonisingly wide of the Arsenal goal.
The penalty decision against Romero was one of those where people are going to come at it from different viewpoints.
Former players will say there’s little the Argentine could do with his arms when he’s launched into that block, but others will simply say his arm is up in the air and blocks a goal bound shot. Most Tottenham fans would likely call for that penalty to be given if it was at the other end.
During Sky Sports’ commentary, Gary Neville said: “Well as a defender, I would like to think that shouldn’t be given against me. When VAR looks at it 25 times, it tells me they’re not sure.
“Because of the desperation of the defender trying to block the ball, he puts his knee on the floor, his arm is raised, try it at home, for me that’s a natural position. I think a lot will agree with me, a lot won’t but at the end of the day, if they look at it for so long, how can they be sure? I just think it’s a natural movement to try and stop the shot.”
Postecoglou is not one to criticise referees not remonstrate on the touchline, so for him to even be shaking his head on the touchline showed his surprise at the referee’s decision after looking at his monitor.
In his press conference he admitted he’s just confused by the handball rule in general nowadays
“Mate, I couldn’t see [the incident] but I’ve got no idea about the handball rule. I really don’t. I saw the one yesterday at Wolves and it just seems if it hits your hand it’s a penalty and then other times if it hits your hand, it isn’t a penalty. I’ve got no idea,” said the Australian.
“It is the one rule in the game I just don’t understand. Unless we start developing armless defenders I don’t know how you are supposed to block things and be in a natural position.
“It is what it is mate. You kind of hope these things even themselves out over the course of a year but I don’t understand the handball rule. I have said that to referees in the past and I don’t know how they see it to be honest.”
When asked if he wanted clarity on the rule, he said: “I think any clarity would be good because I have got no idea, mate. That is probably just me but I have no idea what the handball rule is because I’ve seen all sorts of handballs given and all sorts of handballs not given and they look identical to me. I don’t know. I don’t understand it.”
On another day the decision would have been more controversial and debated as would have Eddie Nketiah’s dangerous challenge on Vicario, which could have broken his leg had the Spurs goalkeeper not managed at the last moment to get his foot off the floor. VAR appeared to go missing in that moment.
Thankfully the Italian escaped injury and there was far more to take from this match than those controversial moments.
For Postecoglou’s clear message that he will take responsibility for any misplaced pass when Spurs try to play his way has smashed through the fear factor at the club and this was the biggest example of that yet.
The young ones
What made the performance even more impressive from Tottenham was the quality of the performances from the younger players.
Logic would suggest that they should have wilted in the face of such an occasion and such noise from the home crowd. Instead, unencumbered by the baggage of the past, Spurs’ young players and the older newcomers simply played their football.
Postecoglou selected them and believed in them because of their character and nobody epitomised that more than Destiny Udogie.
People are starting to take notice outside Tottenham of just how good the 20-year-old Italian is and more eyes were watching how his duel with Bukayo Saka was going to go.
Udogie started brightly in the early exchanges, but 15 minutes in he picked up a yellow card for a rash, late challenge on the England international. Then a minute later, perhaps knocked out of his stride, he misplaced a backpass which fell into Eddie Nketiah’s path, but Vicario saved well low down.
Ten minutes later and Udogie was getting some of the flak for allowing Saka to drift inside and take the shot that Cristian Romero deflected into his own net. In truth, Brennan Johnson’s sprint back in between them, as he tracked White, prevented the Italian from getting near him.
What was important though was that from that point on Udogie showed his character. He did not hide and even with that yellow card to his name, the Italy U21 international ended up dominating one of the Premier League’s best wingers in Saka for much of the remainder of the game.
Udogie made eight tackles, four clearances and blocked one shot and was also a threat going forward. It was his measured header that set James Maddison on his way in the build-up to Son’s first leveller.
The young left-back can take huge confidence from this performance because there are few more difficult wingers to deal with in this league than Saka and he will learn from the early mistakes he made in what was only his sixth Premier League match.
On the other flank, 24-year-old Pedro Porro is rapidly draining the doubts over his defensive ability away. The Spaniard might just be the surprise of Tottenham’s season so far, with not only his adjustment to being a traditional right-back but also the quality of his football when drifting inside as an inverted full-back.
Porro made five tackles, one interception and two clearances in a busy performance that asked less of him going forward than normal, with Pape Matar Sarr taking on most of the advanced work with Dejan Kulusevski down the right.
When asked if Udogie’s bravery after getting that early booking was exactly what he wanted to see, Postecoglou said: “Spot on. I thought both our full-backs had difficult jobs today. Arsenal’s wide players are outstanding players and that’s where their threats are.
“Destiny getting booked early, it could have made it difficult, but the way he dealt with it, in the end I thought he was the dominant player on that side of the pitch.
“He finished really strong and had to contend with having a yellow card. It’s a great learning experience for him and for all the guys. They’ve come through that, going toe to toe with a top side.
“You would much rather win and wouldn’t be happy if you lost, but if you put the result to one side, you walk away thinking, ‘OK if we continue down this road, we can be a team that competes against the best’.”
If Maddison is being considered as one of the best signings of the summer in the Premier League then Micky van de Ven must be in the running as well.
The 22-year-old played with the air of an experienced veteran inside the cauldron of his first North London Derby.
He only needed to make one tackle all game because his reading of the play was perfect for much of it. He did add one interception, won his two ground duels and one aerial duel, and made four clearances but mostly he simply ushered opposition players away from dangerous areas.
On the ball, the big young Dutchman is so calm and collected and his pace allows him to dribble out of the press as easily as he can pass his way out of it, which he also did with a 94.2% passing accuracy.
Nobody has played more minutes at Spurs than Van de Ven this season – 540 minutes – and it’s proof of just how much Postecoglou trusts him.
The Australian admitted that he made it both easy and difficult for chairman Daniel Levy in the summer because he gave him very specific requests for transfers and placed very few options on the table.
Quite simply Postecoglou knows exactly who he wants and who he can see fitting and excelling within his team and Van de Ven is a shining example of why you need to trust the 58-year-old’s judgement. He knows what he wants because he knows what the end product will look like.
The same goes for Brennan Johnson, who made his full debut in a North London Derby after his £47.5m move from Nottingham Forest.
The 22-year-old showcased exactly what an electric player he is going to be for Spurs going forward. He was always positive in his movement and caused White plenty of problems down that flank.
While his shooting could have been more clinical, his movement to get into those areas showed how much there is to work with when it comes to the young Welshman. He has all of the natural talents and physical attributes for his new head coach to mould.
His ability to play across the front line will make him a go-to option for Postecoglou, who seemed as excited about his signing as anyone.
Johnson did pull up holding his left leg in the 62nd minute with what football.london understands was a tight hamstring as he did not want to worsen the problem.
That the Spurs physio could be seen stretching his left leg out appeared to add further weight to it not being a serious problem, but it will be looked at this week to check there is no underlying issue.
Johnson has been playing catch-up with his fitness this season after an ankle injury on international duty last summer wiped out much of his pre-season.
Postecoglou will be hoping the Wales international can face Liverpool next weekend because he offers a different option to his attacking team-mates. Manor Solomon did make a nuisance of himself though after he replaced him with his dribbling ability.
Another young player who showed no nerves on the day was Sarr, who turned 21 this month.
The Senegal international, like Udogie, belies his age and looks born to play Premier League football. Sarr covers so much ground and is the epitome of a box-to-box midfielder, with the energy to fire a shot at goal at one end or sling in a cross before racing back to make a tackle on the edge of his box.
“There’s a real will and desire to become the team we want to be, which includes making sure that you’re disciplined and you’re buying into the team ethos and we had a really young team out there today,” Postecoglou told football.london.
“Vic, that’s his first derby, Destiny, Van de Ven, Pape Matar Sarr, Brennan, they’re all in their early twenties, Porro, even Kulusevski is only 23, so it was a young team but just super proud of the experienced players we did have in there.
“Romero was outstanding, Bissouma has been brilliant all year and Maddison and Sonny was just on a different level, not just his goals although they were outstanding, but his work rate, his work ethic was incredible.”
There was also a first appearance on the bench for young striker Alejo Veliz after he impressed Postecoglou and his coaches in training this week, with his finishing in particular lethal.
Spurs have assembled what might just end up becoming a golden generation of young players and they couldn’t have a more nurturing manager than Ange Postecoglou to guide them on their way.
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